UK seeks extradition of terror suspect over knife murder

Monday 28 August 2006 19.07 EDT
First published on Monday 28 August 2006 19.07 EDT

The UK has requested the extradition of a Briton being held in Pakistan over the alleged terrorist plot to blow up passenger airlines, the Home Office confirmed yesterday. Officials are being asked to hand over Rashid Rauf, 25, who has been held in Pakistan since his arrest there on August 9. Pakistani authorities describe him as a "key person" in the suspected conspiracy to bring down passenger airlines flying between London and the US.

But the Home Office revealed that the extradition request was based on an earlier allegation. "The UK has submitted an extradition request to the Pakistan authorities in respect of a murder committed in April 2002," it said.

No further details were released, and a spokesman for Scotland Yard declined to discuss the case. However it has previously been reported that Mr Rauf moved to Pakistan shortly after his maternal uncle was stabbed to death just yards from his terrace home in Alum Rock, Birmingham. Muhammad Saeed, a 54-year-old delivery driver, collapsed in front of his wife and two children and later died in hospital. Police raided Mr Rauf's home in Birmingham as part of the inquiry and he was considered a suspect in the killing.

The 25-year-old, who also holds Pakistani nationality, is believed to have been subjected to interrogation near the capital, Islamabad.

Tayib Rauf, 22, believed to be Rashid's brother, was one of those arrested by anti-terrorist squad detectives on August 10 but was released from custody in Birmingham without charge in relation to the alleged airline bombing plot.

On Saturday, Pakistan's interior minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao, said Mr Rauf had given Pakistani interrogators "vital clues" about the plot. He alleged he had "wider international links" and was in touch with an Afghanistan-based al-Qaida leader. But he did not provide any details.

Yesterday Tasnim Aslam, Pakistan's foreign ministry spokeswoman, said the UK "had sought his extradition" and the matter was "under consideration". She said the information from Pakistan's investigation was being shared with Britain.

Pakistan has no extradition treaty with the UK, but this weekend Mr Sherpao said it would consider deporting Mr Rauf if a request was made.

Mr Rauf was picked up in Bhawalpur, a stronghold of the outlawed militant group Jaish-e-Muhammad, in eastern Pakistan. According to an in-law of his, he settled in Bhawalpur after leaving Britain and was tied by marriage to Masood Azhar, the leader of Jaish-e-Muhammad.